1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to data processing and in particular to improving utility of threaded email lists. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a system, method and computer program product for regulating message traffic on threaded email lists.
2. Description of the Related Art
The advent of electronic mail has enabled a host of new methods of inexpensive communication. When discussing the advantages of e-mail, most users envision e-mail in its most basic form, which is the communication of text messages from an individual user to another individual user. This ability to deliver text messages has revolutionized interpersonal communications, both for business and for personal data content.
The availability of ubiquitous, low-cost, electronic messaging has enabled a host of spin-off applications. While the simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) has enabled users to communicate with each other individually, additional mass-communication functionalities have arisen from related applications such as listserv. Listserv, and other similar products, operate on the principal of allowing an individual user to send to a pre-defined list of other users. The overall concept of listserv is that an individual user sends a message once to a server. Upon receipt of the individual user's message, the server then resends the message to a pre-defined list of users.
Most listserv user lists are dedicated to interest-specific topics. For example, a listserv will be dedicated to a specific neighborhood group or alumni of a specific college. The predefined list of a listserv community, which often have well-defined common interest allow an individual user to direct a message to a group of like-minded users cost effectively and with great speed. The sending user is therefore insured of a reasonable expectation that the receiving users will have interest in messages related to the topic of the listserv.
This sense of community of common interest which makes the listserv so useful, is also the basis of a great weakness of listserv technology. The weakness arises from listserv's common strength, the common interest and sense of community among the users. Over time, many listservs degenerate into off-topic discussion as users identify the tangential common interests of the user list, which are not related to the subject of the list.
This devolution of the listserv content creates a choking traffic in messages, and, while dedicated to some of the common interests of some members of the list, threatens the utility of the list by diluting the on-topic content of the list with a tremendous amount of off-topic content that is only marginally or tangentially related to the list. As time progresses, the ability of the listserv to transmit useful information dedicated to its intended topic is diminished as regular subscribers develop a frustration with the off-topic posts. What is needed is a way for list subscribers to efficiently identify off-topic threads and to seamlessly filter future posts made on those threads.